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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27166771">Under Heaven's Watch</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/fractalgeometry/pseuds/fractalficlets'>fractalficlets (fractalgeometry)</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Hugtober 2020 [22]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Good Omens (TV), Good Omens - Neil Gaiman &amp; Terry Pratchett</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, During Canon, Emotions, Gen, Heaven, Hugs, I'm going to fix it, Sad Ending, for now</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-07 00:54:39</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>398</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27166771</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/fractalgeometry/pseuds/fractalficlets</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>On his way to the door, a flash of color caught his eye, and he paused. Color wasn’t unheard of in Earth Observation, full as it was of pictures from Earth, but something about this one…</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Aziraphale &amp; Crowley (Good Omens)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Hugtober 2020 [22]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1952887</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>27</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Under Heaven's Watch</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Fair warning, this one is sad. It may be the saddest thing I have ever written. I had the idea today to make one of these kind of sad, and then had this idea and it got away from me. Like the tags say, I <i>will</i> fix it. I don't know yet whether it will be via another one of these ficlets or something longer, but I'll do it. For now, I look forward to hearing your thoughts on this part.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Aziraphale nudged open the door to the Earth Observation department and slipped inside. He didn’t always come by here when he was visiting Heaven, but the one or two angels he most liked to see worked in Earth Observation, and he had enough time today to check if they were around.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The office was disappointingly empty, and Aziraphale circled it once or twice, making sure he wasn’t missing someone, before heading back toward the door. On his way, a flash of color caught his eye, and he paused. Color wasn’t unheard of in this department, full as it was of pictures from Earth, but something about this one…</span>
</p><p>
  <span>His heart sank, before abruptly lodging in his stomach and turning into a ball of fear. Crowley. It was a picture of Crowley. And with him, next to him, </span>
  <em>
    <span>hugging him...</span>
  </em>
  <span>it was Aziraphale. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He snatched up the picture, mind racing, an ongoing chant of </span>
  <em>
    <span>no, no, no, no.</span>
  </em>
  <span> It wasn’t really- but it was. A Heavenly image, clear as day, of him and Crowley hugging. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>In spite of himself, he paused to let his eyes run over the picture, remembering that moment…</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>the calm that slowly seeped into him...the way Crowley held him, like he was precious and deserving and loved...the way Crowley’s shoulder blades poked his palm...Crowley’s soft sigh, the way he held himself tense for a few seconds before melting into Aziraphale’s arms...the small, almost vulnerable smile on Crowley’s face as they parted...the way Crowley reached out to squeeze Aziraphale’s shoulder...the way it made Aziraphale feel like he could breathe freely again for the first time in weeks…</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>He was staring at the picture, he realized, fingers gripping the edge a little too tightly, crinkling the paper. His eyes snapped up, looked around the room. Still empty. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He looked back down at the picture. He couldn’t leave it here. It didn’t look as though it had been processed yet, maybe it was the only copy, maybe…</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Aziraphale stuffed the picture in his pocket and strode out of the office, down the halls, toward the escalator that would get him back to Earth.</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Too close. That one was too close.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>~</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Rrrrrring! Rrrrrrring!</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hi, you’ve reached Anthony J-”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Crowley.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What is it?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Crowley, we can’t-”</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>A soft catch in the breath, a brief hesitation-</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>“We can’t see each other anymore. It’s not safe.”</span>
</p>
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